More sophisticated iPhone 17 Pro cameras expected from LG Innotech

LG Innotech is the main supplier of Apple’s camera modules, and a new report says the company is upgrading its production facilities in order to be ready for next year’s iPhone 17 Pro cameras.

We don’t yet know much about the cameras for the iPhone 17 line-up, but the report suggests that one thing won’t change …

Namely, TheElec says that the periscope lens which enables 5x zoom will remain exclusive to the iPhone 17 Pro next year.

It does report that LG Innotech is building a new camera module plant due to the high spec of the iPhone 17 Pro camera, but doesn’t have any details.

LG Innotech announced on the 21st that it will invest 375.9 billion won to secure a new facility for the camera module (Optical Solution Division). The purpose of the investment is “to respond to new models of optical solution business and improve competitiveness” […]

LG Innotech currently has the largest market share of Apple iPhone camera modules, so there is no need to significantly increase production capacity right away. For this reason, the purpose of this investment seems to be to replace equipment and facilities due to the high specification of the iPhone 17 series camera module.

We’re still some way out from the iPhone 17 line-up, of course, so it’s not surprising we know almost nothing about the specific changes we can expect, either for the camera module in particular or the phones more generally.

We are expecting a new model to be launched, which we’re referring to as the iPhone 17 Air (though this may not be the actual name). This is expected to be one of the slimmest iPhones ever made, and to prioritize sleekness over specs – including a smaller cutout for a more advanced Face ID module. One significant compromise anticipated is the inclusion of just a single camera, despite the fact that it may be priced above the triple-camera large-screen iPhone 17 Pro Max.

Image: Lumafield/iFixit